“People Don’t Buy What You Do. People Buy WHY You Do It.”

People Don’t Buy What You Do…People Buy WHY You Do It.

I love this business advice! I wish I first thought of it. It is actually from my favorite Ted Talk from an amazing speaker, Simon Sinek, from one of Ted Talks most popular video. Here is the video. Take the time to watch it all. As with all great speakers, it’s the full length of what they say that gets the message through to us. As with music, if you listen to a small piece of a song, you will miss the power of the song…it’s tempo change, key changes, adding more instruments as the song progresses to build the emotional power of the music. (By the way, if you ever want to spend some time useful on the Internet, check out www.ted.com. These videos will teach and inspire you.

When I first found this video, I was amazed by what he was saying. This was what I was actually doing when I started creating the idea of what I wanted to do for the rest of my life, after leaving my corporate job of over 20 years. In fact, this was how I was living my whole life. I just didn’t know it.

I left that 20 some year job in 2008. It was not really what I was meant to do, but it was a good job and it provided income for my family, although most of those years, I was only doing it for the money and I found my happiness at home, with my family. I knew that when I created my own business, it MUST be because I loved doing it so much, that the doing of it would not only make me happy…but would also make me succeed.

I’ve played this Simon Sinek video several times for the teachers at DMH, because I always want to inspire them and let them know that I and all of us together, are not simply doing something because we love music and we can make some money doing if. I want everyone at DMH to know exactly WHY David’s Music House exists…and WHY we are all here doing something uniquely different from any other music school.

“Our mission is to give students the confidence and skills to become caring and supportive people by inspiring and mentoring them by example through music.”

Now, let me show you proof that I’m not just throwing some marketing, sales pitch at you. Below, is just a simple drawing of the space that DMH occupies in the well known Waterdam Plaza, in a well known South Hills community, Peters Township. I will tell you that rent for this size space, in such a plaza and community is my largest expense per year of running the school. I tell you this simply to illustrate that businesses use every square foot of their floor space very wisely and usually for the purpose of bringing in revenue. We all know this every time we sit in a plane or concert event or sports stadium, where you barely have enough room for your legs. Everywhere we go and pay to be, sit or live makes sure that every bit of the space brings in more revenue. How many more people can fit into a plane, theater or stadium if they make every seat as small and close together as possible? How many more houses can be sold if the developer gives less land to each house? I think you get my drift.

Here’s a simple drawing of DMH from above:

My crude drawing shows the point that I am making about “WHY” we do what we do. Notice that the whole space is divided in half. The back half is all of our lesson rooms, which are the bread and butter of the business’s revenue. So, why don’t the lesson rooms take up more or even most of the front, or remaining space? Again, think about this…why would the owner of a business allow half of what could be also earning more money, just be this huge waiting room? Trust me, it is NOT just to be the most amazing waiting room ever! Yes, we have it filled with couches, soft comfy chairs and a few tables and yes, it appears to be a coffee house, but once again I ask you to trust me when I say…we do NOT sell enough coffee and food to count as business revenue!

So, WHY, WHY, WHY, as most would say…waste this precious floor space that could be earning more with more lesson rooms? Is my concept of my article coming through to you yet?

Believe me…I am not wasting any space…not for the reason “WHY” David’s Music House exists! This entire front area is the OTHER HALF OF WHAT WE DO AT DMH!!! Let me say that again…giving music lessons is only HALF of what DMH does! The other HALF is teaching PERFORMANCE! The entire front area, other than the reception area and small café counter, while also providing the most excellent and comfortable waiting area, is for our students to Learn How To Perform For People. This does not mean just to get students up on a stage to play what they’ve learned for their parents, which is the very definition of a music recital. As a young learning music student, I experienced those recitals and while they certainly are not a waste, they do not teach students all there is to know about performing in front of an audience. DMH teachers actually will teach our students how to perform on stage. This means acknowledging that an audience of people came to see and hear you perform, so it is fundamental to teach young music students how to do just that. This can be anything from looking at the audience, saying their name and thank you…to speaking and using a microphone correctly.

Whether a student’s path is solo or a rock band performance or to be in an orchestra or ensemble, every musician should learn that they are not only playing for themselves or a conductor. When a musician performs LIVE, they are always performing for an audience and a major part of their learning years should also include being taught how and why they are responsible to the audience. I can tell you from over 60 years of performing music, that almost no music student is learning this performance aspect and nearly all professional musicians seriously lack the skills or ability to entertain or acknowledge and engage the audience. Most professional performers only learn this through experience of constant trial and error. Wouldn’t it great if everyone who wanted to learn how to play an instrument or sing was also learning, from a young age, how to perform to an audience?

This is WHY I always say, David’s Music House is like no other music school. I created a thriving and growing business, that started in 2008, the time of our country’s second worst economic crisis ever…NOT just to find a way to make money..but to carry out what became known to myself as what I was created to do.

If you notice, in our Mission Statement, it does not speak to making great musicians or providing the best music lessons. It speaks of creating caring and supporting people. We just happen to think that music is the best tool to do that because it is the only communications method that crosses through any language, race, gender, geographic location, or even religious or spiritual boundaries. Music reaches the human emotions or soul. Music effects all living things in so many ways. Music can make us happy, sad, cry, angry, powerful, loving and often affects us emotionally and physically when we don’t even realize it. Music brings Alzheimer patients memories back. Music actually make the human brain grow and increases intelligence.

So the next time you walk into David’s Music House, pause for a moment, look around and realize that we put everything we can think of into fostering a caring, supportive, mentoring experience for each student. It shows in our use of the entire front half of our school. I call our DMH teachers Music Mentors, as they are mentoring each student by example and dedication to our overall Mission Statement of creating kinder people…for a kinder world.

“The Lesson Room Is Only The FIRST Step” – David

As always, thank each of you for coming to David’s Music House and for believing in and spreading the word about “WHY we do what we do”.